Operations

DOE Cuts Clean Cities, Boosts SuperTruck

February 19, 2016
• by Staff

U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) proposed 2017 budget would sharply cut funding to the Clean Cities program and add new funding to an initiative seeking to improve the fuel efficiency of Class 7 and Class 8 trucks.

The 2017 budget proposal would cut funding for "Outreach, Deployment, and Analysis" to $31.5 million for fiscal-year 2017 from the $48.4 million spent in fiscal-year 2016. The 34.9% cutback would eliminate funding for the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Community Partner program that has funded fleet purchases and conversions of alternative-fuel vehicles.

The cut would also reduce funding for National Laboratory technical and problem solving assistance.

The budget would also add $60 million in funding for the SuperTruck II initiative that seeks to increase the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks by 2020. The initiative has set out to double the fuel efficiency of 2009 model-year trucks.

The budget provides $468.5 million to support research and development of efficient and alternative fuel vehicle technologies, including the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge initiative seeking to reduce the costs of battery and electric drive systems in plug-in vehicles by 50% by 2022 from 2012.

Unlike passenger vehicles, which require biennial smog checks in California, heavy-duty diesel trucks are not currently required to undergo regular emissions testing. That might change with the introduction of a bill in the state Senate.

Beginning this month, Green Motion customers around the world will be able to choose from four simple products at clear price points in each market, with the option to enhance their package at a later stage if they want.

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